Drawer cabinet with ejecting and adjusting means



C. A. TIETJE May 18, 194s.

DRAWER CABINET WITH EJECTING AND ADJUSTING MEANS Fil ed Feb. 8, 1945 :5.Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR. 6M1 A'A/TO/v 7/5727:

May 18, 1948.

C. A. TIETJE DRAWER CABI NET WITH EJEC'IING AND ADJUSTING MEANS 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 8, 1945 DRAWER CABINET WITH EJECTI-NG ANDADJUSTING MEANS c. A. TIETJE 2,441,678

Filed Feb. 8, 1945 s Sheets-Sheet s I N V EN TOR. 64/?4 rf/vra/v 7/2-7272 Patented May 18, 1948 DRAWER CABINET WITH EJECTING AND ADJUSTINGMEANS Carl Anton Tietje, Montclair, N. J.

Application February 8, 1945, Serial No. 576,738

3 Claims. 1

The invention relates to a drawer cabinet construction.

In drawer cabinets it has heretofore been customary to provide variousdevices for opening or closing the drawers which usually involve ahandie that might have been a member projecting from the front, apivoted bail or other knoblike projection from the front of the drawerthat could be conveniently grasped in thehand of the person desiring tosecure access to the drawer.

In the design of furniture and particularly of modern furniture as wellas in other instances it may and frequently is desirable in order tomaintain the lines of design to avoid the use of knobs, bails or therhandles. In the past it has been necessary to provide some type ofdevice to be grasped but all such devices have affected the generalappearance of the cabinet. I

This invention seeks to provide in a drawer cabinet drawers under thecontrol of the operator which may be projected from the cabinet Withoutthe use of any knob or other projection.

The invention seeks to provide further a cabinet construction whereinthere may be a plurality of drawers free from any type of handle or knobfor withdrawing the drawer.

More particularly, the invention provides in a drawer cabinet having aplurality of drawers a construction whereby the drawers are arranged inpairs so that when one drawer of a pair is moved inwardly another draweris ejected.

Also provided by the invention are means to realign the drawers afteroperation to eject a selected drawer.

These and other objects which will be apparent from the sequentdescription are all embraced within the invention as hereinafter morespecifically described and as set forth in the appended claims.

The invention is described with reference to certain preferredembodiments specifically illustrated in the accompanying drawingswherein:

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation with parts broken away showing adrawer cabinet;

Figure 2 is a view in section along the lines 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view in section of an impositive lock; and,

Figure 4 is a view in section along the lines 4-4 of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1 there is'shown a drawer cabinet 2 provided with aconventional top 4 and a plurality of drawers including a pair ofdrawers li and 8 arranged side by side,anoth'er similarpair'of drawersl0 and I2 which drawers l0 and I2 ar each of substantially half thewidth of the cabinet. There are also shown two full-length drawers I4and IS.

The individual drawers have generally conven- 2 tional construction withfront walls l8 which as shown in Figure 2 may be aligned with thecabinet front wall 20. Suitable end guides and center guides 22 may beprovided as in usual drawer cabinet construction. The cabinet front wall'20 may provide drawer separating strips 24 or the drawers may be soarranged that their respective fronts I8 are adjacent each other oradjacent another drawer.

In accord with this invention means are pro-" vided whereby the drawersare arranged in operating pairs which pair arrangement may be side byside or one above the other. As illustrated, the pairs are adjacentalthough the invention could be applied to pairing drawers which werenot directly adjacent.

Referring to Figure 2 the two full-length drawers I4 and I6 which areshown as near the bottom of the cabinet are each provided with asuitable back wall 26. The rear wall 28 of the cabinet or other memberat the rear of the cabinet such as a portion of the frame on which thedrawer rests may serve as a mount for a rocker arm 30. The rocker arm 30is mounted in a bracket member 32 which in turn is mounted as abovedescribed at the rear of the cabinet. A spring 34 is also mounted inconnection with the bracket member so that normally the rocker arm 30will be held in what may be termed a neutral position. In this positionthe ends 36 of the rocker arm 30 will each engage the rear walls 26 ofthe respective drawers l4 and, I6 when the front walls l8 are alignedwith the front wall 20 of the cabinet 2. This is the normal position forthe drawers.

When it is desired to withdraw a drawer as, for example, the drawer M,the drawer I6 is pushed into the cabinet to the position shown in dottedlines in Figure 2 with the result that the rear wall 26 of the drawer I6engages the lower end 36 of the rocker arm 30 pivoting it about its axis38 and forcing the other end 36 of the rocker arm 30 against the rearwall 26 of the drawer l4 therebyejecting the drawer to the positionshown in. dotted lines whereby the front wall it! of the drawer I 4 isejected beyond the front wall 20 of the cabinet 2. In this position thedrawer may be conveniently pulled out to any extent desired byvgraspinga cut-away portion 40 in the lower rear of the front wall I8. The drawermight be grasped from another edge, either a side or top edge of thefront wall or the degree of ejection might be such that no specialprovision would be necessary.

The spring 34 may, if desired, be of such strength that when theoperator releases the drawer l6 which has been pushed in; that drawerwill be restored to its normal position with its front l8 flush with thefront 20 of the cabinet 2 under the action of the spring 34. In any casewhere the spring 35 is not sufficient to accomplish this, the drawer Itwould be restored to its proper position upon pushing the drawer it backinto the cabinet afterthe articles to be removed or placed in the drawerhad been so arranged.

In order to insure accurate aligning of the fronts l8 of the respectivedrawers with the wall 23 it may be desirable to provide means such. as alatch or an impositive lock 32 illustratediiin greater detail in Figure3. As therein shown it comprises a ball at in a cylindricalichamber; i6held against lips 58 by a spring 58. This, portion of the latch may bemounted in the strip "25 or other portion of the front Ell ofthercabinet 2. Front I8 of a drawer'may be provided with a amember 52with a notch M into whichthe ball M'may fall when the front E8 of thedrawer and the frontit of thecabinet 2 are in alignment.

In Figure 4 is illustrated a suitable arrangement for a of adjacent halfdrawers such as the drawers ii and l2. In this case a rocker arm may beconveniently mounted ona longitudinal board 58 adjacent the rear of thecabinet 2 wirestoring spring yet releases the drawer for ,moyementcuponthe application of greater force 2. In a cabinet having a wall withdrawer openings; repairer-drawers therein, each drawer hav- .ingaifrontmwall, latching means for releasably holding the frontw'all ofeach drawer in normal by a pivoting bolt or the like 59. The ends 62, g

56 of the rocker armfiii engage the rear walls of drawers it and 12,respectively, and spring 56 engages the rear portion of the rocker armpreferably adjacent the ends. thereof. It will be recognized thatinstead of a leaf spring there could be provided coil tension orcompression springs suitably mounted toaccomplish a similar purpose.

In Figure i there is illustrated the position of the drawers after theoperator had pushed drawer l2 into the cabinet to eject drawer ll).

had assumed the position shown in dotted lines but when the operatorreleased the drawer 12,

the action of the spring 56 restoredcthe drawer iii to proper alignmentwhile the drawer it stayed in partially ejected position as shown indotted lines. 7 V

The rocker arm operating mechanism has been illustrated and described asmounted at. the rear of the drawers but it will be evident thatiothermounting positions with cooperating mechanisms may be substituted.Instead of a rocker arm or 'other'lever systemsthe invention might becarriedv out by-the use of cables or ropes together with suitableweights and pulleys.

UWhilethe invention has been described with respect to certain preferredembodiments, these are toibe considered illustrative of the inventionwhich is particularlyset forth in the appended claims.

1 I claim:

1. In a cabinet having a wall with drawer openings, a pair ofdrawerstherein, each drawer having a front wall, means mounting saiddrawers for movement throughsaid openings in said cabinet wall into andout Of said cabinet, releasable latching meanstohold eacndrawer'irontwall :in normal position with respect to saidcabinet wall; said mountingmeans and releasable latch- $0116 of said pair of drawersis pushed.into. -said *cabinetbeyond the wall thereof the. otherlof said drawersis ejected therefrom, and spring means to restore either, drawertonormal position where his held by said releasablelatl'ching means whenIn so doing the drawer l8 and rocker arm- 56' position in alignment withthe wall of said cabinet, means mounting said drawers for movementthrough said openings in said cabinet wallinto and out of said cabinet,said mounting means .and latching means permitting movementof eachentire drawer into the cabinet beyondlthe wall otthe cabinet, levermeanswithin said cabinet engaging a portion of each of said pair ofdrawers, said lever means being so arranged that when one of said twodrawers is pushed into saidcabinetsbeyond the wall thereof the othermfsaid drawers is ejected therefrom, andspringsmeans to restore eitherdrawer to normal position Where it is held by said latching means whensaid drawor :isrel-eased after it has been pushed intosaid cabinet,eachsaid releasable. latching means icomprising cooperating elementswhich .automatically hold the front wall of a drawer in the :plane ofthecabinet wall when thesdrawer is brought to-thls position by theaction of the; restoring spring yet releases the drawer for movementupon the application of greater force: to the drawer.

3; In a :cabinet having a-wall with I drawer openings, a pair of drawerstherein, each drawer having a front wall, means mounting'said drawersfor movement throughsaid openingsin said cabinet wall into and out ofsaid cabinet, releasable latching means tohold saidcdrawers with theirfront walls'in normal position inialignment with the wall oisaidcabinet, said mounting means and releasable latching means permittingmovement of-said drawers intothe cabinet-runtil the drawer front wall isbeyond the wallroi the cabinet, means actuated by the movement of onedrawer intothe cabinet to eject the other drawer so that its front wallis outsidept-the wall of :the cabinet and spring meansto res-tore saidfirst mentioned drawer to itscnormal position where it isheld bysaidreleasable latching :means with its front wall in alignment with thewall of the cabinet, each said releasablelatching meanscomprisingcooperating-elements which automatically hold thesfront walloiadrawerin :the-plane'of the cabinet wall-whenithe .draweris brought to:this position by the action .of therestoring spring -yet releases thedrawer .fonsmovementupon the application of greater force to the drawer.

- CARLA'NTON REFERENCES. .CITED The following references areofnre'co'rd'inthe file of this patent:

UNITED. STATES PATENTS Number Name Date; 1,018,689 '*'W0ocl Feb."27,?1-912 1,827,928 Berger Oct. 20, 1931

